


The Truest Truths

by daisyqiaolianmay (skinman)



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Family, Post-Episode: s02e05 A Hen in the Wolf House, Romantic Friendship, Trip's back-story, TripSkye, because we all miss Trip, set in season 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-10
Updated: 2015-12-10
Packaged: 2018-05-05 22:08:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5392097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skinman/pseuds/daisyqiaolianmay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the Prompt: 'Anything with Trip and Daisy from S2 would be fantastic. Literally ANYTHING. I need some Trip in my life again and his relationship with Daisy was amazing.'</p><p>Trip and Skye discuss finding a truth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Truest Truths

**Author's Note:**

> Made a conscious decision to call Daisy Skye in this because she was Skye at this point and that's what Trip called her.  
> Honestly I just always wanted to write a more serious Tripskye scene since we never really got to see that until he died (which im still distraught over) and even then they didn't have a real, actual talk.

 

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_'The truths are out there. And if one day you should behold a miracle, as I have in you, you will learn the truth is not found in science, or on some unseen plane, but by looking into your own heart. And in that moment you will be blessed - and stricken. For the truest truths are what hold us together, or keep us painfully, desperately apart.' - Dana Scully_

 

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May and Coulson, they had been right. Coulson had warned her of what she might find. She’d been so stubborn, desperate. It was about a silly, childish dream. When she was little it had been drilled into her that family was the be all and end all. She was surrounded by those bittersweet examples of parent-child relationships; looking through windows panes to see new foster parents leading little ones by the hand, TV shows full of kind mothers and proud fathers she’d watched out the corner of her eye, the mornings of her childhood spent knelt on the hassock singing reverence to the virgin and the child at Sunday mass.

Now her father was a murderer. Well… he’d always been a murderer, but she could have lived without that knowledge… if she hadn’t gone looking. She had the blood of a killer flowing through her heart. In that truth was something truly chilling.

It confirmed to her something she’d worried about for a long time; what she had the potential to be. It had troubled her for months, that repulsive familiarity in Ward’s eyes. That same certain broken conviction, that desperation for consolation, to achieve what they had never been allowed. She wasn’t Ward, but maybe she could have been. It would have been possible, if she’d been found by someone else, someone as manipulative and corrupted as Garret, instead of Coulson. That father figure who had shaped her, shaped him… she was lucky to have that good man. Things could have been so different.

“Hey, what you doing up so late?” Softened to match the quiet night, but still playful, a voice broke through the silence that Skye had been cultivating.

She jolted just slightly, broken from her train of thought.

Skye regained her composure and snapped her head round, looking over the back of the sofa to regard Trip, standing in the shadows, dressed in a loose, grey t-shirt and joggers.

“Says the guy who’s up at the exact same time.” Skye accused, a small smile curling the corners of her mouth.

Trip chuckled lightly, moving over to the small fridge at the far end of the rec room, tugging it open. Light spilled from the appliance momentarily illuminating the room somewhat. The specialist tugged a water bottle from it’s depths. Cracking it open and lifting it to his lips, simultaneously, gently kicking the door closed with his right foot.

“Touché.” Trip said, putting the cap back on the water bottle. He walked around the other side of the counter, the side closest to her, and leant back against it, dark, glinting, kind eyes trained on her.

Skye waited a moment, until she realised he wasn’t going to say anything, and then she spoke, “What?”

He shook his head, breathing in, “You didn’t answer my question yet.”

She looked down to her hands, twisting her own fingers, she sighed, “I was just… thinking, I guess.” She answered lamely.

Trip nodded, “Thinking.” He wandered toward her slowly, “Cool. Mind if I sit?”

Skye shrugged, and he knew that passive acceptance meant a ‘yes’.

Trip dumped himself down beside her on the cushions, letting the silent question hang in the air and moment. If Skye spoke, he’d listen, if she didn’t, he’d sit with her till he knew he wasn’t needed, then make his exit.

“I found out my father was a murderer today.” She said it simply, calculating, because she had accepted it on some level. She had to, because she had to stop him.

Trip didn’t say anything, just glanced at her out the corner of his eye. There wasn’t anything he could say, nothing that would make her feel better in this moment.

“He’s hurt a lot of people… and… we have to stop him. I have to stop him.” Her words were clunky, so desperate to avoid being emotional she seemed to be nearly choking on every syllable.

“Hey, it’s not your fault.” Trip’s jaw tensed as he finally twisted round, turning toward her further.

“He’s my father.” She gritted her teeth.

Trip put his water bottle down on the coffee table, finding the words, “Look… Skye, our family don’t define us, okay? You get to choose. I’ve spent my entire life avoiding my grandpa’s legacy, trust me, you don’t have to let your father’s affect you.”

Skye sniffed, blinking rapidly, “Not sure that’s a fair comparison; your grandpa’s a hero.”

“Sure. He was also kind of an ass sometimes; he was cold, and cranky, and stubborn. You know when he was in the Commandos they nicknamed him ‘Happy Sam Sawyer’ just for the irony.” Trip smiled. “Everyone at the academy, all the Supervisors anyway, they were always comparing me to the Commander they knew.”

The story momentarily distracted Skye.

“I went out my way to earn my own reputation.” Trip laughed lightly to himself. “Half my personality was formed out of my not wanting to be like him.”

“What about your dad?” Skye was beginning to realise how little she knew about Trip really. He had such open expressions you felt as though you knew exactly who he was, but, truthfully, until now she wasn’t sure that she had.

“Died when I was 11.” Trip offered. He didn’t seem upset, a little nostalgic maybe.

“An agent?”

“Hell no. My pap was a History teacher.” Trip announced proudly, that bright spark returning to his eye.

Skye smiled a little wider.

“Deymont High School, Boston. He used to work for this tiny magazine that printed out of a basement in downtown, that’s how he met my Mom. He went to interview my grandpa for an article he was writing and…” Trip trailed off, grinning.

“You miss him?” Skye questioned, though she thought she already knew the answer.

“Not sure I remember enough to miss.” Trip said, capturing her gaze warmly, and holding it, smile fading but not completely. “My Mom though, she’s the one that matters.”

Skye frowned, deciphering his meaning, “Because she raised you?”

“Because she cares about me, unselfishly. You got people out there that care about you like that, makes you want to do right by them.” Trip concluded his story with this.

“I don’t…” Skye began.

“Look, your father, that’s messed up, and if he really cared about you he’d stay away, he’d know he was bad for you. Him trying to get hold of you, that’s… that’s selfish.” Trip stumbled with direction, something passionate behind his gaze. “Family isn’t about DNA or legacy… it’s about putting yourself in the line of fire to save a friend, it’s about… being prepared to give up someone you love because they’d be better off without you.” Trip paused a moment, apprehensive. “It’s about keeping the truth from someone to keep them safe, even if they might not forgive you.”

Skye’s eyes flickered, she bit her lip. “You’re talking about Coulson and May.”

Trip put his hands up defensively, breaking a small smile, “Just remember that you said that not me.” He leant back in the cushion, spreading his arms and resting them on the back and arm of the couch, continuing, “Look, I saw what went down in Coulson’s office earlier. This isn’t the first time he’s kept you in the dark, and you told me last time he did it the truth turned out to be something real bad, so I can understand your concern.”

Trip didn’t know that she now knew what Coulson had been keeping from her; that he was carving into drywall and wood and anything else he could force a line into, and she kept quiet about it, pressed her lips tightly shut. It was then the reality of Trips word’s hit her, how people kept things from people they cared about in order to keep them safe. She couldn’t tell him the truth she might have discovered about herself. She couldn’t tell him anything until she understood what this thing was, what kind of danger is posed… what kind of danger she posed.

Unable to find words, and to stop herself from saying the wrong ones, she moved quickly, sliding across the fabric of the couch. She tucked herself into him, wrapping her arms around his stiff torso, her crown brushing lightly against his bearded chin. Large but soft, warm hands rested against her back, holding her close.

“This a thank you?” His chest vibrated against her cheek as he spoke.

“Something like that.” She sighed, lips brushing his shirt.

“You don’t owe anybody anything because they brought you into this world.” He told her quietly.

Skye stilled at that, then drew back slightly, just enough so she look up into Trip’s face.

 His nose no more than an inch from hers. “The truth of it is, you can’t choose your family.”

He felt her move her head against him in a nod.

Trip smiled into her dark hair, moving his arms tighter around her, “But the truest truth, is that sometimes your family chooses you.”

She tucked herself in even closer, "You mean I'm stuck with you guys?"

He echoed her, a laugh in his tone, "Something like that."

 

 

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__please follow me at[coulsonskids](http://www.coulsonskids.tumblr.com/) on tumblr! i'm taking prompts_ _

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